Castellaraccio di Monteverdi lies on a hilltop at 130 meters above the sea level. Nowadays it appears as a deserted medieval village, with few structures still visible in the vegetation. It faces the Ombrone river and overlooks the ruined Medieval bridge connecting the NW shore to Sasso d’Ombrone.
Brief History
The castle is first mentioned in the mid 12th c. AD, when it was part of the large estate of the Monastery of Saint Salvatore of Giugnano (Roccastrada, GR) and of the Abbey of Saint Lorenzo all’Ardenghesca.
In AD 1202 it entered the fiscal regime of the Commune of Siena and the church of Saint George is mentioned. It is at this moment that the Monastery of Saint Salvatore of Giugnano (and its estates) were transferred to the Abbey of Saint Galganus. Twenty-five massiritie were recorded by Siena in AD 1278, while two years after the Abbey of Saint Lorenzo sold its proprieties to Siena (2/3 of the settlement). In AD 1294 Ugolino di Rustico’s sons bought the estate belonging to the Commune of Siena, while at the end of the same century the Abbey of Saint Galganus sold its third to Niccolรฒ di Bonifazio Bonsignori. In AD 1297 the Bonsignori family gave in its properties to Siena; however, the castle is at this stage abandoned and ruined as it is described as destructus et nullus habitat in eodem. In AD 1320, the castle and its belonging rural houses were part of the Commune of Paganico.
The archaeological research
The site of Castellaraccio has been under archaeological investigations since 2018. Archaeology aims to understand the extension of the settlement, its urban plan, and the chronology of use. Given its strategic position and the early abandonment of the settlement, the site should also preserve early Medieval phases not recorded in the written sources.
References
Sebastiani A., Carabia A., Barbafiera C. 2024, The Archaeological Excavations at Castellaraccio di Monteverdi (Civitella Paganico โ GR). Report of the 2021-2023 seasons. in Journal of Fasti Online, http://www.fastionline.org/docs/FOLDER-it-2024-589.pdf
Turkar Y., De S., Adhivarahan C., Mottola L., Sebastiani A., Castelletti D., Dantu K., 2024, Enhancing Archaeological Surveys with In-Sar Imagery and UAV-Based GPR. IGARSS 2024 – 2024 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Athens, Greece, 2024, pp. 11454-11456, DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS53475.2024.10640645
Hobart, M., Carabia, A. 2022.ย The Second Archaeological Season at Castellaraccio di Monteverdi (Civitella Paganico โ GR). Journal of Fasti Online
Hobart, M., Carabia, A. 2020.ย Excavation at Castellaraccio (Civitella Paganico โ GR) 2018. Journal of Fasti Online.
Sebastiani A. and Hobart M., 2020, Scavi nella Tenuta di Monteverdi (Civitella Paganico โ GR). I siti di Podere Cannicci e Castellaraccio. Notizie dei Cavi e degli Scavi, Bollettino di Archeologia, X, 3-4: 17-29
Interconnected Mobility of People and Economy along the River Ombrone 